icehockeyfandomcom-20200214-history
Liam McHugh
| birth_place = | citizenship = | alma_mater = University at Buffalo Syracuse University | occupation = Television sportscaster}}Liam McHugh is an American television sportscaster. He is a sports announcer for NBC Sports coverage of the NHL as well as Notre Dame Fighting Irish football and the NFL NBC Sunday Night Football. He is also perhaps the face of NBC Sports Network, anchoring much of its staple programming, including the NHL, Tour De France, college football, college basketball and the Premier League. Early life and education McHugh grew up in Williston Park on Long Island and played basketball and soccer at Herricks High School. His father, Frank McHugh, was a track coach at a different high school. McHugh graduated from the University at Buffalo and received his master's degree from Syracuse University. Career Prior to joining NBC, he worked at Newsday (1999-2001), WTHI in Terre Haute, Indiana (2004-2007), KOKH in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (2007-2009), and ESPN The Magazine (2001-2007). On April 5, 2010, The Daily Line debuted with McHugh as host. The show consisted of a four-person panel (host McHugh, handicapper Rob DeAngelis, comedian Reese Waters, and Jenn Sterger) which discussed, often with heavy satire, sports-related topics that were popular that day and aired on Versus. However, the show was canceled due to low viewership on November 4, 2010. McHugh would be retained by the network to originally work on NHL coverage, mostly on NHL Overtime and'' Hockey Central''. In 2011, McHugh began the year as the host of NHL Live, the network's pre- and post-game show that airs before and after each NHL telecast. He also contributed to NBC's Stanley Cup coverage, hosting Games 1 and 2. In the summer of 2011, McHugh stepped into the role of host for NBC's live daily coverage of the Tour de France. In the fall, he contributed to the NBC Sports Network's college football coverage as the host of the newly created College Football Talk, a weekly wrap up show. Additionally, he served each week as the host for the network's studio show before and after game coverage. 2012 saw McHugh return to the NBC and NBC Sports Network coverage of the NHL as lead studio host. He hosted NHL Live several times weekly and the NHL on NBC intermission report weekly. He finished off the 2011-2012 NHL season in his biggest role to date, hosting every game of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals. He served as a reporter for NBC's Super Bowl XLVI pre-game coverage. McHugh expanded his portfolio even farther as he was to be a part of NBC Sports's coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics. McHugh hosted the afternoon action on NBC Sports Network daily throughout the games. In the fall, he continued to host NBC's college football studio show alongside Doug Flutie and newcomer Hines Ward. In November 2012, McHugh hosted NBC Sports Network’s Carrier Classic Countdown, live from the deck of the USS Bataan, as well as pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage. He made his Winter Olympics debut as a hockey host at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi for NBC. For the final 6 weeks of the 2015-2016 Premier League season, McHugh filled in as the Lead Studio Host for the Monday afternoon Premier League games while Rebecca Lowe was on maternity leave. McHugh continued in that capacity for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 Premier League seasons when he has no NHL responsibilities for NBC Sports Network. Shortly before Super Bowl LII, it was announced that McHugh would join Dan Patrick as a studio co-host for the game, filling in for Mike Tirico as the latter prepares for to anchor the 2018 Winter Olympics, set to open a few days later. References External links * NBC bio * Category:National Hockey League broadcasters Category:Olympic Games broadcasters Category:Born in 1977